Stephanie Garza, a young new leader in the church, creates leaders out of Chicago moms.

Fault lines

The immigration debate comes home to Catholic parishes

She brought her children here from her country because she feared gangs would kill them.

“I left because of the delinquency of El Salvador. The situation there is very delicate. A mother has instincts toward her children, and, well, I saw a very dangerous future for them,” Maria Ayala says.

The Salvadoran civil war—which killed some 70,000 from 1980 to 1992, including San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero—spawned gang violence by groups like Mara Salvatrucha.

Fault lines

The immigration debate comes home to Catholic parishes

She brought her children here from her country because she feared gangs would kill them.

“I left because of the delinquency of El Salvador. The situation there is very delicate. A mother has instincts toward her children, and, well, I saw a very dangerous future for them,” Maria Ayala says.

The Salvadoran civil war—which killed some 70,000 from 1980 to 1992, including San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero—spawned gang violence by groups like Mara Salvatrucha.

Paper chase

The right paperwork can save lives among the world’s stateless people.

After a record turnout of nearly 60 million Americans marched through voting booths this primary season, poll watchers are expecting U.S. citizens to vote in historic numbers next month, determining in classic democratic fashion (assuming the Supreme Court is not asked to intervene) who will lead the United States over the next four years.

Let my people stay

How to deal with the immigration “problem”? Give people a real choice on migration.

It may surprise red-white-and-blue Americans fixated on preventing the Hispanic reconquista of the Anglo Norte, but many of the folks they howl most about agree with them. They don’t want to come to America any more than these Americans want to let them in.

Let my people stay

How to deal with the immigration “problem”? Give people a real choice on migration.

It may surprise red-white-and-blue Americans fixated on preventing the Hispanic reconquista of the Anglo Norte, but many of the folks they howl most about agree with them. They don’t want to come to America any more than these Americans want to let them in.

Borderline Christianity

During Mass each Wednesday at Casa Juan Diego in Houston, immigrants speak of not eating for days, having nothing to drink for a week, seeing people die of thirst or because they drank irrigation water with chemicals in it.

Moises Sandoval is the author of several books on Hispanics in the United States, including On the Move, a History of the Hispanic Church in the United States (Orbis Books, 1990). Until his recent retirement, he was the longtime editor of Maryknoll and Revista Maryknoll magazines.

Borderline Christianity

During Mass each Wednesday at Casa Juan Diego in Houston, immigrants speak of not eating for days, having nothing to drink for a week, seeing people die of thirst or because they drank irrigation water with chemicals in it.

Moises Sandoval is the author of several books on Hispanics in the United States, including On the Move, a History of the Hispanic Church in the United States (Orbis Books, 1990). Until his recent retirement, he was the longtime editor of Maryknoll and Revista Maryknoll magazines.